How Fast Can We Go?

[hawk20]

It seems any major car maker can now provide performance way beyond what anybody realistically needs in modern traffic and with speed limits all over the place. But it doesn’t stop manufacturers carrying on the absurd arms race.

VW have unveiled a Golf faster than a Ferrari Maranello.
The Volkswagen Golf GTI W12 concept can hit 62mph in an impressive 3.7 seconds thanks to its huge 640bhp engine and carries on up to 200 mph.
The car is not yet in production, in spite of rave reviews from car shows across Europe.
Lower and wider than a stock GTI (which incidentally has around 450bhp less power), the standard car's doors, hood and lights are retained, but aside from these it's all new.
The GTI W12-650 is powered by a bi-turbo W12 engine, and the entire body is made of lightweight reinforced plastic.
The GTI features a cutting edge diffuser design that uses the carbon-fibre roof to funnel air under a tiny spoiler at its trailing edge.
This, VW reckon, generates enough down force to allow the lucky driver to tame the 12-cylinder behemoth with a six-speed Tiptronic gearbox.
Industry insiders reckon this Ferrari-killer could hit the road for around £70,000. The current fastest Golf on the market is the R32, which sells for around £25,000.
My personal view is that this nonsensical arms race will simply hasten the day when governments decide that all cars must be fitted with limiters at, say, 80mph.

 

[television]

It seems any major car maker can now provide performance way beyond what anybody realistically needs in modern traffic and with speed limits all over the place. But it doesn’t stop manufacturers carrying on the absurd arms race.

VW have unveiled a Golf faster than a Ferrari Maranello.
The Volkswagen Golf GTI W12 concept can hit 62mph in an impressive 3.7 seconds thanks to its huge 640bhp engine and carries on up to 200 mph.
The car is not yet in production, in spite of rave reviews from car shows across Europe.
Lower and wider than a stock GTI (which incidentally has around 450bhp less power), the standard car's doors, hood and lights are retained, but aside from these it's all new.
The GTI W12-650 is powered by a bi-turbo W12 engine, and the entire body is made of lightweight reinforced plastic.
The GTI features a cutting edge diffuser design that uses the carbon-fibre roof to funnel air under a tiny spoiler at its trailing edge.
This, VW reckon, generates enough down force to allow the lucky driver to tame the 12-cylinder behemoth with a six-speed Tiptronic gearbox.
Industry insiders reckon this Ferrari-killer could hit the road for around £70,000. The current fastest Golf on the market is the R32, which sells for around £25,000.
My personal view is that this nonsensical arms race will simply hasten the day when governments decide that all cars must be fitted with limiters at, say, 80mph.

That would be a disaster, as you could not get out of trouble if needed

 

[BlackC55]

My caddy does 65mph. I have no need to get out of trouble as I don't get in it in the first place.

 

[Benzowner]

That would be a disaster, as you could not get out of trouble if needed

Accelerating to get out of trouble will inevitably get you into trouble quicker.

 

[Rose Chap]

Grinding your axe again on this topic I see Hawk20.

Are you a director of a company that produces limiter devices by any chance?

 

[hawk20]

That would be a disaster, as you could not get out of trouble if needed

If the limiter was set at 80mph that would be no problem. You are not allowed to go over 80 anyway.

We will have nobody to blame but ourselves if we go on in a stupid performance arms race, ignoring safety and green concerns. Untrained, unfit, 50 plus year olds driving outrageous supercars makes no sense, however much we try to make it do so.

Young fit men and women with superfast reactions don't buy or insure many of these behemoths.

 

[glojo]

I think you have answered your own question?

How fast can YOU go?

On motorway journeys we are frequently overtaken, but the fastest cars are not necessarily driven at the fastest speeds, so to me it is very much irrelevant what the performance\top speed of any car or van is?

The most dangerous vehicles are those driven by the 'red mist' brigade.

How fast can I go? Not very

John the optimist

 

[stats007]

If you don't like the cars - don't buy them. Have you asked for your S320 to be limited to 70mph?

If it weren't for pioneering and advancing technology we'd still be living in caves - though that may not be too bad a thing looking at some aspects of society today.

 

[fuzzer]

Global Warming is a load of B****cks , Save the V8!

 

[BTB 500]

AFAIK that VW is purely a concept car and never intended for production.

More relevant is the fact that just about every humble family car on the road will do over 100 mph. They are involved in far more accidents than exotic supercars!

Of course the UK has a 70mph limit, but other countries don't. So 'smart' limiters that reacted to local laws might be an option one day (if such a system could ever be agreed and implemented internationally), but anything else would be a non-starter IMO.

 

[BTB 500]

You are not allowed to go over 80 anyway.

I certainly am - every time I drive to Germany

 

[Dieselman]

AFAIK that VW is purely a concept car and never intended for production.

More relevant is the fact that just about every humble family car on the road will do over 100 mph. They are involved in far more accidents than exotic supercars!

Per mile driven.? I think not.

I think Hawk's comment was about whether in todays cimate of reducing emissions and improving road safety, manufacturers ought to be encouraging the idea of superfast cars.

 

[glojo]

To all those that propose this limiter idea I say:

The question is;

How fast can you go and like others, I thought this VW was one of many concept cars?

 

[RobertE]

It is bad driving, not fast driving, which causes accidents - the two are not necessarily linked. And as for the Green lobby - d'you remember all those ridiculous Citroen 2CVs lurching about with 'Nuclear Power - No Thanks? stickers on them? Possibly the most un-environment-friendly machines ever produced.

The green lobby as presently constructed would not exist without the collapse of the Soviet Union, as the conrolling tendency which is ever-present in Socialism needs an outlet. The objective is to infantilise and then lobotomise a compliant population and have it transported about in cattle trucks - remember the scene in Dr. Zhivago? Don't think it can't happen again. The private car has done more than anything to transform society in the last century; it grants freedom of movement and flexibility of options to a huge number of people. The 'Green' issue is a pure red herring, so do not be conned. Anyone who tells you that they have a climate forecast based upon a computer model is simply a damned liar. This is the same 'good science' that gave us the Y2k scare.

 

[Satch]

Would this speed limiter run off the car speedo? We must presume so, in which an indicated 80 usually means around 77 or so at best, which would be about 123kph, below the commonish Euro limit of 130kph.

Any such device would be UK specific which is pretty much a no no now we are tied to EU Regulation re motor vehicles.

There is also the slight practical issue that mixing speed limited vehicles with millions of other non speed limited vehicles might just cause the odd problem or two.

It is an idea which come up now and again usually from some headline grabbing politician or a single issue pressure group and is always punted into the long grass.

 

[hawk20]

AFAIK that VW is purely a concept car and never intended for production.

More relevant is the fact that just about every humble family car on the road will do over 100 mph. They are involved in far more accidents than exotic supercars!

Of course the UK has a 70mph limit, but other countries don't. So 'smart' limiters that reacted to local laws might be an option one day (if such a system could ever be agreed and implemented internationally), but anything else would be a non-starter IMO.

What chance a Euro limit. Makes as much sense as a Euro currency or harmonisation of this that and t'other.

 

[Dieselman]

Would this speed limiter run off the car speedo? We must presume so, in which an indicated 80 usually means around 77 or so at best, which would be about 123kph, below the commonish Euro limit of 130kph.

That's only how the display is set. The true reading off the wheels is exact.

 

[hawk20]

Per mile driven.? I think not.

I think Hawk's comment was about whether in todays cimate of reducing emissions and improving road safety, manufacturers ought to be encouraging the idea of superfast cars.

Well said. Mercedes tried hard to get them all to agree to 155 mph limiters and for some while Merc stuck to that. But if nobody else does the race will continue.

Modern technology is such that almost any manufacturer can make these superfast cars. If they don't know how, well heh you can buy the designers and whatever you need.

Everybody wants to make luxury cars. More profit. To some extent luxury and performance are linked in people's minds. Halo cars. Flagship cars. Look how long it took VW to make Audi into a credible luxury marque. Used to sell from VW dealers.

But it makes no sense. And it increases the green lobby's arguments. And politicians will listen.

 

[BTB 500]

Per mile driven.? I think not.

What's the relevance of that?

Astras kill far more people and emit far more CO2 than Ferrari Enzos. So if you want to save lives and the environment then there's a much bigger payback in regulating / improving the Astra than the Enzo.

 

[BTB 500]

What chance a Euro limit. Makes as much sense as a Euro currency or harmonisation of this that and t'other.

Or driving on different sides of the road?